1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to joint replacement surgery, and more particularly to a prosthesis with a modified articular surface.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Joint replacement surgery is used to replace one or more damaged articular joint surfaces or components, thereby allowing the joint to function normally when it would otherwise not be possible to do so. For example, hip arthroplasty is a common joint replacement surgery in which a diseased or damaged femoral head and/or acetabulum is removed and replaced with one or more artificial components. In a typical hip arthroplasty procedure, a femoral component is secured to the femur after resection of the natural femoral head, and a prosthetic femoral head is affixed to the femoral component to approximate the location and orientation of the natural femoral head. The acetabulum of the hip joint may also be resected and replaced with a prosthetic acetabular cup designed to articulate with the prosthetic femoral head. The prosthetic femoral head and acetabular cup may be made of metallic, ceramic and/or polymer components, for example.
Longevity is desirable in the components used in a hip arthroplasty procedure, to reduce or eliminate the need for revision surgery and enhance functionality during the service life of the hip prosthesis. In addition to increasing longevity, minimizing wear of the hip prosthesis components also curtails the potential release of particulate material from prosthetic components into the patient's body. One method of reducing wear in hip prostheses is to select a femoral head component having a different hardness as compared with the acetabular cup component. For example, the acetabular cup may be made of a metallic material and the femoral head may be made of a ceramic material, creating a bearing surface in which respective bearing surface components have disparate material properties, such as hardness (i.e., the relatively softer metallic acetabular cup and the relatively harder ceramic femoral head). These disparate material properties may prolong the service life of the hip prosthesis.